Third-Person Omniscient Point-of-View: The Invisible Narrator

M.L. Bull
3 hours ago
4 min read

Third-person omniscient is the one of the least common point-of-views used by writers within short stories and novels. From my previous blog post, I discussed third-person limited point-of-view and mentioned there are actually two different third-person perspectives. Well, third-person omniscient is the second third-person point of view. It's also known as the "godlike" or "all-knowing" point-of-view, or what I call it, "the invisible narrator." This is because this perspective has all access to the characters, and in some cases, even animals or other beings in the story world. In essence, the reader becomes a fly on a wall, or a bird sitting on a perch above a large cityscape while reading these types of stories, able to know all the ins and outs of multiple characters involved within the entire storyline. Nonetheless, there are a couple key points to consider as it is for the others I've discussed. Let's briefly go over them.

A cityscape neighborhood from a bird's eye view.

WATCH THE EPISODE

See episode 2 of season 3 of my Journey of a Christian Writer series, Third-Person Omniscient Point-of-View: The Invisible Narrator or continue reading the blog post.

KEY POINTS FOR 3RD PERSON OMNISCIENT POINT-OF-VIEW

A blonde woman thinking at her computer desk.

Third-person omniscient is a big undertaking point-of-view, but it's also one of the easiest and funniest to do. For this perspective, a writer can be inside the head on their lead protagonist one minute and the next reveal the thoughts of a squirrel scurrying across their lawn with an acorn and up their front yard tree. It really can be that extreme, as writers aren't limited to any of the characters' thoughts, feelings, or actions. However, this perspective can also be tricky and cause confusion if one isn't careful on their writing approach.

The following are key points for better prose of this perspective:

5 KEY POINTS FOR 3RD PERSON OMNISCIENT POINT-OF-VIEW

UNRESTRICTED ACCESS TO CHARACTERS & STORY WORLD
USE PROPER PRONOUNS
BALANCE SHOWING & TELLING
KEEP A CONSISTENT NARRATIVE VOICE
USE CHAPTERS OR SCENE BREAKS FOR SMOOTHER TRANSITIONS

All right, let's evaluate each one these.

UNRESTRICTED ACCESS TO CHARACTERS & STORY WORLD

A giant man wearing a robe, holding a planet earth in his hand, and standing in outer space.

The coolest feature and characteristic of third-person omniscient is probably the unrestricted access that writers can have to characters and the story world while writing this perspective.

The feel of this perspective is much like a camera lens that films from one place to another. Writers can move through multiple different characters' viewpoints, revealing their thoughts, desires, fears, and various other elements of their inner worlds to readers. Hence, readers will know more than the characters themselves in the story, which makes the perfect opportunity to include dramatic or situational irony in scenes. Third-person omniscient also allows writers to switch from different locations within the story world in the same chapter. However, there's a certain way go about this, which I'll explain below.

💡Tip: KNOW YOUR CHARACTERS. As mentioned, in the third-person limited point-view blog post, it's important that writers also know their characters well, and especially for the omniscient perspective. Writers should brainstorm and outline character information about their characters prior to writing about them or at least have a vision of who they are.

USE PROPER PRONOUNS

The pronouns "He," "She," and "They" on a light purple background.

As usual, writers should use the proper pronouns when writing in this perspective. Similar to third-person limited point-of-view, writers will use the same singular context pronouns "he" "him" and "his" for male characters, "she" her" or hers" for female characters, and "they" "theirs" and "them" for the plural context or a group of characters.

BALANCE SHOWING & TELLING

A steel balance scale with gold coins on both sides of the scale.

Because this perspective allows writers or the narrator to explain everything that happens with characters and within the story world, it's important for writers to ensure they use a balance between the writing rule of showing vs. telling, and to show character development rather than list a number of facts to the readers. For example, rather than telling readers a character is surprised during a birthday party, they can show the character's suspicion or anticipation leading up to the birthday party and their physical reactions to the big reveal.

KEEP A CONSISTENT NARRATIVE VOICE

A close-up of an African American man's mouth talking in a microphone.

While the narrator of third-person omniscient point of view has access to multiple characters, writers should still keep a consistent narrative voice throughout the story that's unified, rather than jumping from between characters. In other words, none of the characters should all of a sudden be telling the story, but the narrator should be telling the story about them.

USE CHAPTERS OR SCENE BREAKS FOR SMOOTHER TRANSITIONS

A close-up of a video recording stage camera.

This last key point is one of the most helpful when writing in third-person omniscient point-of-view, especially as most of us writers typically picture our stories as a movie or a TV show in our imaginary minds. Chapters and scene breaks allow writers to have smoother transitions when using this perspective and also helps to avoid constant "head-hopping" within scenes. For example, maybe the narrator discusses one character in a classroom in New York and then picks up with another character far away in an Italian cafe. Writers can add asterisks or pounds signs to break up paragraphs and form scene breaks or write about characters in separate chapters rather than the same chapter. This creates the illusion of a camera lens zooming or panning from one character, location, or scene to another.

STORY EXAMPLES OF 3RD PERSON OMNISCIENT POINT VIEW

From children's books to full-length novels, there are many different story examples when it comes to third-person omniscient point of view. Some of these include Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, and Lord of the Flies by William Golding.

CLOSING REMARKS:

As you can see, third-person omniscient point-of-view is pretty simple to write but has a few required recommendations. Using the five key points above can help writers to easily shift between characters in a clever and entertaining way and navigate the story world without causing boredom, annoyance, or confusion for readers. For more writing videos or tutorials, subscribe to my channel Journey of a Christian Writer series. All right, that's it for this post. If you liked it and found it helpful, please, give it a (heart❤️), take part in the poll 🤔, and share your thoughts or comments 💬 below.)

Happy Writing! 😊✍🏽💻